Episodes

Hearing protection in motorsports can make the difference between enjoying race day for a lifetime and living with preventable hearing loss. In this conversation, Melinda Russell talks with audiologist Anissa Bezanson about what really happens to your ears around race cars, why so many fans and families don’t realize the risk, and how simple changes can protect every age group at the track. Anissa brings a unique perspective as both a hearing professional and a race mom. She explains how repeat...

Tiffany Towns shares what it’s like to build a racing life later in adulthood, compete in a male-dominated class, and grow into her own identity on the track. From first-time nerves to first-place finishes, this conversation highlights how dirt track racing can sharpen confidence, communication, and resilience. She also opens up about the realities behind the fun: learning the sport from the passenger-side perspective first, handling setbacks like rollovers and mechanical failures, and finding ...

"Now that I've caught the bug itself, it's starting to slowly consume me."

Women’s motorsports and the fight for the right to race take center stage in this conversation with Tierra Hubbard, Director of Government Affairs for Racing at SEMA and PRI. She breaks down what advocacy looks like in real life, why legislation matters for racetracks, and how policy decisions can protect an entire motorsports ecosystem. Melinda Russell and Tierra also unpack a major misconception about right-to-race laws: these bills do not override local government authority. Instead, they he...

Olivia Grimes shares how a family racing tradition turned into a growing dirt-track career, from quarter midgets to winged outlaw karts and sprint cars. At just 15, she’s already learning the speed, skill, and resilience it takes to keep improving while traveling across multiple states to race. This conversation highlights the realities of girls in motorsports: long travel days, working on the car as a family, finding support, handling bad race days, and staying motivated when progress takes ti...

Women’s motorsports is built on family, grit, and the relentless pursuit of excellence — and this conversation with Maddi Gordon brings all of that to life. From junior dragsters to Top Fuel aspirations, Maddi shares how a racing family, strong mentors, and a deep love for the sport shaped her path. This episode goes beyond the wins. Maddi opens up about the pressure of competition, learning to handle tough days, and why finding the positives in every run has become one of her most valuable too...

Athena Rose Webster shares what it’s like to fall in love with racing at just four years old and keep building skill, confidence, and speed as a young kart driver. From her first NASCAR experience to competing at tracks across Missouri and Kansas, this conversation shows how early exposure, family support, and persistence can turn curiosity into a real motorsports journey. She talks about the different karts she drives, what it’s like being one of the few girls in her class, and how she stays f...

Fifteen-year-old Legend Car driver Zoey Smith may be young, but her racing journey is already filled with determination, perseverance, and life lessons that racers of every age can appreciate.

Send us Fan Mail Dirt tracks have a way of revealing who you are the moment you turn in. Maddy Brook is only 17, but she already talks like someone who has learned that speed is equal parts courage, composure, and community. She joins us from Western Sydney to share how her life as a zookeeper at the Wildcat Conservation Center pairs surprisingly well with weekend competition in Australian speedway racing. Maddy walks us through her start in dirt go-kart racing, from growing up around the pi...

Send us Fan Mail A rear tire flies off on the last lap and you still take the win by crossing the finish line backwards. That’s the kind of real-world racing story we love, and teen driver Jillian Cole brings it with honesty, humor, and a clear look at what youth motorsports actually demands. We sit down with Jillian, a racer from Rio Linda, California, to talk about her path from local track nights and Power Wheels races into seven years of quarter midgets, and now into a 250 outlaw kart. S...

Send us Fan Mail A $5 an hour summer job at a racetrack doesn’t sound like the start of a major motorsports career, but that’s exactly where Lauri Eberhart begins. From Michigan International Speedway to Nazareth Speedway to the NASCAR hub in North Carolina, Lori shows how motorsports careers are built in real time: by taking the work seriously, earning trust, and staying close to where the action and the people are. We trace her journey through sports law and speedway leadership, incl...

Send us Fan Mail A 10-year-old with a trophy shelf behind her sounds adorable until you realize she’s also a serious driver with a clear head for speed, strategy, and safety. We sit down with Laci Mitchell from Victoria, Australia, a fourth-generation racer who started at five and now races both quarter midgets and a junior sedan. Listening to her talk about racing feels like a masterclass in what kids can learn early when they’re given the right support, equipment, and seat time. &nbs...

Send us Fan Mail Most racing stories start with childhood karting, but Katrina “Kat” Gray takes a route that feels a lot more like real life. Kat joins us from Lincolnshire in the UK, where she teaches people to drive for a living and still finds time to chase lap times on some of the most iconic road racing circuits in the country. Her path into motorsport begins with under-17 driver training on a circuit, a uniquely British workaround since learners can’t drive on public roads before 17, an...

Send us Fan Mail You don’t need to start racing at five years old to belong on a racetrack. Melinda Russell sits down with Kim Estep, a Porsche racer who didn’t take her first laps until her 30s, and still built a path into real competition through coaching, club racing, and the kind of community that pulls you forward when you’re ready for more. Kim shares the moments that changed everything: learning at Lime Rock Park, discovering she had a real feel for the car, and the wild “break it you...

Send us Fan Mail Drag racing taught Danica Miles how to perform under pressure, but dirt racing forced her to rebuild everything she thought she knew. Danica is 18, already nine years into motorsports, and she’s not sugarcoating what it takes to grow up around racing, sponsors, and serious expectations while still figuring out who you are off the track. If you’ve ever wondered what real mental toughness looks like, her story lands hard because it starts with anxiety that once made everyday pl...

Send us Fan Mail A dirt sprint car doesn’t reward you for playing it safe, it rewards you for understanding chaos. We’re joined by 17-year-old Florida racer Katlyn Calhoun, who’s making the leap from quarter midgets to a 600 micro sprint and a winged 360 sprint car, and she tells us the real skill that took the longest to learn: trusting the car when the rear starts to slide. If you’ve ever wondered what separates “holding the wheel” from actually driving, her explanation of dirt technique, t...

Send us Fan Mail We share an original “So God Made a Racer” tribute that puts the real work of racing front and center, from late-night wrenching to the courage it takes to keep chasing a dream. We also explain why our mission is to connect and celebrate women across motorsports because every journey matters and everyone deserves to belong at the racetrack. • Paul Harvey’s influence and why we wrote a motorsports version • racing as a daily lifestyle, not a weekend hobby • s...

Send us Fan Mail She was nine years old, terrified on her first passes, and by the end of her first race day she was holding a win and wondering how she ever thought racing was “not cool.” Melinda Russell sits down with Autumn DeRossett, an NHRA drag racer who grew up in junior dragsters, moved into a Super Comp dragster, and built a motorsports life around the track community that keeps pulling her back every other weekend. We get honest about the part of drag racing most people don’t post:...

Send us Fan Mail A 13-year-old micro sprint driver tells the truth about what it takes to get fast, stay confident, and keep learning on a dirt oval. We’re joined by Holly Spake from Southeast Texas, and her racing timeline is wild: eight years in the sport already, a go-kart start, a jump into junior sprints, and now restrictors with real results including an early-season win at her home track, Gulf Coast Speedway. If you’ve ever wondered what youth dirt track racing actually looks like behi...

Send us Fan Mail Waiting feels responsible, but it’s often the quiet place where big dreams stall. Fuel Her Future launches with Melinda Russell’s clearest message yet: you don’t have to have everything figured out to move forward, you just have to take one step. If you’ve been telling yourself you’ll start when you’re ready, this first conversation is the nudge to trade perfection for progress. I share how my path from a farm in West Central Illinois into publishing, marketing, design, acco...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people think you have to start racing young, have the “right” connections, and already know what you’re doing. Kelly Barr Anderson proves the opposite. She started drag racing at 51, fell in love on her first pass, and found a community that welcomed her in, taught her, and changed her life for the better. We talk about what 2026 looks like when the track that shaped your routine closes down, your car is waiting on a new motor, and family needs rise to the top. Kell...

Send us Fan Mail A mom climbs into a race car, hates it, swears they must be the worst parents ever for letting their teen do this… then takes one more run and falls in love with racing. That turn is the heartbeat of our conversation with Bobby Joe Jernigan and her daughter Riley, part of a Michigan short track family where mom and daughters compete in the sport compact division and push each other to get better. We talk about what it’s really like racing under the same banner when you’re al...

Send us Fan Mail A sprint car at 150 mph is loud, fast, and impossible to ignore and that’s exactly why Natalie Waters uses racing to start conversations most adults avoid. Natalie races 410 wing sprint cars on asphalt, grew up in quarter midgets, and now balances life on the road with a mission that reaches far beyond the track: preventing bullying before it turns into something tragic. We dig into how her racing journey was built through family, grit, and constant learning, from earl...

Send us Fan Mail She loved speed before she could spell it, and she’s still chasing it as a mom, a competitor, and a hands-on racer from Greenville, Michigan. We sit down with Amber Eberspeaker to hear how a childhood around go-kart tracks and family racing stories turned into a life built on dirt track racing, street stocks, and four-cylinder battles, with all the real-world trade-offs that come with grassroots motorsports. Amber walks us through the turning points: stepping into a mo...